3.42: Mortgage Rates Reverse Course, Head North

• May 9, 2013

by Shilpi Paul

For the first time in six weeks, mortgage rates are moving up.

On Thursday morning, Freddie Mac reported 3.42 percent with an average 0.7 point as the average on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. Last week, rates were averaging 3.35 percent, close to the historic low of 3.31 percent.

From Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft:

Fixed mortgage rates edged up following a solid employment report for April. The economy gained 165,000 new jobs on net last month, more than the market consensus forecast and the largest monthly increase this year. On top of that, revisions added 114,000 more jobs to February and March as well. All of these factors allowed the unemployment rate to fall to 7.5 percent in April, the lowest since December 2008.

The UrbanTurf Mortgage Rate Disclaimer: The rates reported by Freddie Mac for 30-year mortgages are usually the best rates that the most qualified borrowers can get, so borrowers or those considering refinancing should not necessarily read this news and think that they can go out and get a loan with the quoted interest rate.

Here’s a look at the path of rates since January 2010:

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/3.42_rates_reverse_course_moving_up/7045